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Your parents would have been smart to tell you to to "eat your broccoli." But what about broccoli sprouts? Or broccoli supplements?

There have been a number of randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials on the use of broccoli sprouts as a complementary treatment in diabetes to reduce oxidative stress, inflammation, and insulin resistance and fasting blood sugars.

In my video, Biggest Nutrition Bang for Your Buck, I describe how to grow our own sprouts simply and quickly in five days. New science suggests, though, that it's even simpler and quicker than I described. If we look at other sprouts, their antioxidant phytonutrients appear to peak around sprouting day five (up to 10-fold higher than day two), but the sulforaphane content in broccoli sprouts appears to peak at around 48 hours, so 2-day-old sprouts may be even better (See Sulforaphane: From Broccoli to Breast).

What if we don't enjoy eating broccoli or broccoli sprouts but still want the benefits of the broccoli phytonutrients? Do the broccoli supplements on the market work? One group of researchers tested BroccoMax, which boasts a half pound of broccoli's worth in every capsule. Researchers compared six capsules a day to a cup of broccoli sprouts. In the video, Broccoli: Sprouts vs. Supplements, you can see the spike in broccoli phytonutrients in the bloodstream of those eating sprouts. The cup of broccoli sprouts dramatically outperforms the six capsules at a small fraction of the cost. The researchers conclude that the bioavailability of broccoli phytonutrients is dramatically lower when subjects consume broccoli supplements compared to the whole food.